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Document 1441

KARL WOLFF. ALS: "Wolff", 2p, 4¾x7½. [Nuremberg], 1945 June 25. In German, in part: "As arranged with you I am now writing you for the second time after 6 weeks have gone. There is only one piece of news since my letter of June 11, which General Lemnitzer sent on to you: Upon my repeated requests Fieldmarshal Alexander sent me word that my family is in the hands of the Allies and that the Fieldmarshal will take care that I get a letter from my wife as soon as possible. I am very grateful to the Fieldmarshal for this communication, which reprieved me of my very great human worry after 5 weeks. The great pleasure of anticipation of this letter and of your promised visit are the only rays of hope in this desolate time of tension and waiting. My request of June 11, 1945 for an interview with Generals Lemnitzer or Eary has been without result so far. Perhaps on one wants to wait first your arrival, for which I again would like to ask as soon as possible...." In February 1945, SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff, Himmler's former Chief of Staff, secretly sent word to the Allies that he wished to arrange a German surrender in Italy. In March, Wolff traveled to Zurich, Switzerland, where he met with Allen Dulles (head of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services in Europe) and offered to surrender all German and Italian troops in Italy. The negotiations ended on 9 April 1945, when the Allies launched their spring offensive into the Italian Po Valley. On April 29, 1945, German emissaries signed the instrument of surrender at Allied headquarters in Caserta to take effect at noon on May 2, 1945. WWII in Italy thus ended six days earlier than in the rest of Europe. On May 13, 1945, Wolff was taken into captivity when U.S. troops of the 88th Infantry Division arrested him at his private villa in Bolzano. Karl Wolff appeared as a witness at Nuremberg for the prosecution in trials of Nazi criminals. He was the only one in camp still permitted to wear his badges of rank. This concession had been promised him by Field Marshal HAROLD ALEXANDER, Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theatre, as a reward for his early surrender with the German forces in Italy. Wolff mentions Alexander in this letter. After Nuremberg, Wolff was tried by a German court and sentenced to four years' imprisonment with hard labor, but was released a week later. In January, 1962, Wolff was arrested and charged with the murder of Jews and with direct responsibility for the deportation of 300,000 Jews to the Treblinka concentration camp during the summer of 1942. On September 30, 1964, he was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment and 10 years' loss of civil rights. He was released in 1971 for good behavior. Ink show through. Upper right corner missing. File hole at upper blank margin. Fine condition.

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